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Two genes that allow opium poppies to make morphine and codeine have been identified. Transferred into microbes, they could enable the painkillers to be made in vats, instead of having to be extracted from poppies. This would reduce the land needed to make the drugs - and their cost, say researchers in Nature Chemical Biology (DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.317).

Falcon to fly soon

All nine engines of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket were successfully test-fired on 13 March, taking it a step closer to being able to deliver cargo for NASA to the International Space Station. A test launch is scheduled for mid-April.

Improving the IPCC

The UN announced last week that the InterAcademy Council - an umbrella organisation for the world's science academies - will review the methods of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and recommend how the IPCC can improve its methods in future. It ...

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